Development and validation of the attitude scale for the clinical nutrition care process of hospitalized patients for physicians

Abstract

Objective: Evaluating physicians’ attitudes towards malnutrition and clinical nutrition in hospitalized patients are crucial for the implementation of optimal nutritional care process and the prevent of hospital malnutrition. The aim of this study is to develop a scale that evaluates physicians’ attitudes towards malnutrition in hospitalized patients. Methods: Based on the existing literature on clinical nutrition and the clinical experience of experts in this field, a 5-point Likert-type attitude scale consisting of 12 items was developed. Analysis was carried out using Parallel Analysis to determine the number of factors in the Exploratory factor analysis based on the Polychoric correlation matrix and Unweighted Least Squares as the factor extraction method. Results: There are 8 items in the 1st factor (Physician duties) and 4 items in the 2nd factor (Non-Physician duties). The Cronbach Alpha and McDonald’s Omega coefficients of the scale were found to be 0.72 and 0.81 respectively, from the sub-dimensions 0.78 and 0.85 for the 1st Factor, and 0.66 and 0.75 for the 2nd Factor. Conclusion: Attitude scale for the clinical nutrition care process of hospitalized patients for physicians is an instrument with good psychometric properties that measures examination of physicians’ attitudes related to clinical nutrition care process.